Honest question: Does the opponent AI operate the same in every mode?

Hi, folks! Hope all is well.

This is an honest, straightforward question. I think it’s something that players, if it’s not the same everywhere, deserve to know, so we understand how the game actually operates.

I am Thronebreaker, I have been here since the first week of the game itself. I know how to bait specials.

This isn’t a “me” problem.

My concern is in Battlegrounds, where a little too often, the AI won’t do anything except throw heavies and try to back you into the corner.

Yes, I intercept, though sometimes I miss. I am not a perfect player. I understand when I make mistakes and don’t complain about that.

But I just fought a Hit Monkey where I literally had to push it to an SP3 because the AI wouldn’t do ANYTHING after I had multiple Concussions on it. It was like the AI said not to do ANYTHING other than throw heavies if it’s Debuffed.

I have never been so frustrated in Battlegrounds — the AI can’t be passive IF you are baiting and intercepting! It’s a two-minute fight! It has to do SOMETHING

Comments

H3t3r

I have definitely noticed ai in battlegrounds change a lot. Now the ai is much more passive and incredibly good at light intercepts.

Grootman1294

Imagine act 6 with arena AI. That would be pure death.

As for BG AI, it's frustrating as hell. Especially with the new meta where you gotta intercept.

Pikolu

Depending on the quest will depend on what difficulty of AI you encounter. Battlegrounds and AW has the hardest AI in the game, while heroic EQ has a much easier and dumber AI. ROL also has an easier AI which is why it is so frustrating how passive the AI there is.

Axew

It’s annoying when you lose a matchup due to the AI. No matter how much skill you utilize, a passive opponent will force you to waste your time baiting specials. I’ve had multiple matchups where I bait as soon as the opponent reaches an SP1 and they refuse to throw it until they reach a SP3 due to power gain.

CyborgNinja135

It fluctuates tbh. I faced a Mangog today that wouldn't throw the sp2 and had to eat the sp3 because of him. Still won the round somehow. Thing is another annoying one. Most of the time he'll hold the sp1/sp2 and I can't do anything cause he has 15 rock stacks so I end up wasting 20 seconds trying to get him to throw a special, even with taunt on.

Then sometimes I come across a trigger happy AI that keeps throwing specials and won't let you catch a break. I faced an Apoc and a Knull this morning that just kept throwing sp1s. Hyperion is also weirdly cooperative.

IamGrO_ot

Last week the AI held back on attacks until they got a sp3, this week the AIs use sp attacks as intercepts...this is of course done on purpose…kabam’ed 🧨💥🔥🔥🔥

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TheLegend27

IDK if it's mode dependent unless they are tuning up the aggression level to make it more beginner friendly (like ROL and earlier acts are much easier/passive compared to later stuff in the game).

IMO without a doubt AI behavior changes based on champ. How many characters immediately launch a heavy attack when the fight starts? In my entire time playing the game I've only experienced that against Sersi and America Chavez recently as well as Mysterio during previous events. You just don't see other champs do that. Yes, I'm salty because I was in BGs facing a Chavez, she did that, and I wasn't nearly warmed up to react fast enough lol

ESF

I don’t know what the best answer is for what AI should look like, but it’s definitely less than optimal trying to bait multi-hit specials from kits that can purify debuffs and have heavies that leap across the freaking screen, but the AI won’t throw the specials in a two-minute fight

That ain’t great

GroundedWisdom

The official response, as of some time ago, is that there are only about 3 AI profiles in rotation. As to how they apply to BGs, I'm unaware.

Crusaderjr

use hulkling, herc, and BWDO. you will see the major differences in play style AI seem to adapt to or at least know how to counter.

using hulkling the AI does not want to be passive and never holds block unless you heavy and place the debuff

using herc, intercepting seems to always get countered or at least seems the AI is favored when doing simultaneous dash ins. intercepting AI seems to exponentially increase. they also become super passive somehow even when debuff is applied to them to become more aggressive.

using BWDO holding block you will see her widow meter start to activate. as soon as you see it pop up, dash in and it will 100% always be a guaranteed intercept even if the AI is standing in block, they seem to dash in in time to get intercepted. if you dash in early 50/50 you either get intercepted or you hit into block.

using many other champs the AI is just really passive in a lot of situations where it benefits them, for example having power gains they tend to hold block or become super passive. if you get lucky you are able to bait a special and keep them in a rotation(highly unlikely tbh)

K00shMaan

I particularly think the AI gets really messed up when Power Gain Buffs are present. We all knew that Mordo was incredibly passive while his Power Gain was active. This was present prior to the text being added to his kit after the buff. I've always felt that Hyperion was the opposite and was rather aggressive when his Power Gain was active. I've always felt like certain nodes that give Power Gain also buy into these tendencies. Back when we fought Hercules in EoP a few ago, he had the node where he gets Power Gain while blocking. I felt that node specifically would grant the "Passive" AI to him as well.

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DNA3000

"HONEST QUESTION: DOES THE OPPONENT AI OPERATE THE SAME IN EVERY MODE?"

Here's the honest answer. This is probably an unanswerable question.

This is going to sound like a dodge, but the phrase "operates the same" is one that has no specific technical meaning. Which is to say, the answer could be yes or no, and yet still be consistent with what we see.

The AI runs on things referred to as "profiles." But we don't know, and the devs have never explained, what's actually inside a single profile. The profile could contain all sorts of rules and contingencies that make even one single AI profile behave differently in different conditions.

And that's the technical stumbling block to answering this question. It could be literally true that if you were somehow able to magically pick up an AI defender from one part of the game and drop them into another part of the game they'd behave slightly differently without any change to the code or the data. Since the developers look at code and data, they would say the AI was identical. Since players do not look at code and data, they look at behavior they could come to the equally solid conclusion that the AI was different.

What complicates this is that (and this is just my opinion: no one has ever directly told me this) I believe two factors make this problematic to discuss with the developers. First, AI subsystems are notoriously complicated in games like this. They are often black boxes of tangled wires no one wants to touch. And second, there's often the belief that if the players understood how the AI worked, they could come up with behavioral exploits.

If you believe the players are smart enough to outsmart the AI, and it is a tangled mess you don't want to touch, the one thing you don't want to do is educate the players on how it works. If they outsmart it, you can't fix it (or it would be incredibly complex and rime consuming to do so).

Again, this is my own theory on the issues surrounding AI. It is complicated enough that the AI can behave in sometimes different unpredictable ways when placed in different unique circumstances. It is also complicated enough that no developer wants to touch it. And they are worried about what would happen if they gave away too many details to the players, who are likely to be able to outsmart it if they knew too much.

Gogata

The A.I is different for the newer champs I think, I clear content with ghost and from what I see older champs like classic spider man, vision, and others that have not been "buffed" as soon the fight starts they dash in doing 5 hit combo, I can do a medium and dash back and they go in again, fighting especially newer champs start the fight casually going back exactly until the invisibility expires then they dash in, which I learned the timing and intercept and as soon as I dash back, they are not aggressive again, so either they have new A.I coding to be more passive when there is invisibility on the attacker or something ... tell me if ever a defender doesnt EVER start the fight either blocking or with light attack, but vs ghost they keep going back